Winds of Fate [Books I-III]

Chapter Thirty-Six: Fish Friends and Foes

Bang! 

"Ayeeee!" The siren screeches. It coils its bleeding fin around its trembling body, retreating back to the corner by the bow.  The black talons screech painfully against the wooden floorboards. Eleanore plants herself between the monstrosity and the crew, irked by the noise. Magic gathers around her, taking all the shadows and even some of the fog in her grasp. The siren slithers, howling in pain.

"God," Aggy sighs, shaking her head, "You're one ugly shit!"

Skree! The ship dips to reefs once more. 

"Aggy! To the wheel!"

"Aye, aye!" Aggy dashes up the quarterdeck. She brushes a frozen Jim aside and takes the Vulture's helm in her hands. Skreee! The ship continues to scrape itself. "Argh! Who knew a wheel is this heavy!" 

"I'll take care of this-" Eleanore steps towards the wounded siren,  hands open before her. Swirls of darkness are playing on her palms. "Begone!"

"Rah!" It lunges in the air. 

She hurls a blanket of shadows to the monster. The sheer force slaps the siren out of the ship, enveloping it in darkness. 

Thunk! It falls back to the waters. 

A sharp maneuver to starboard hurls Eleanore to the port gunwale. Thud. "Ow!" 

"Sorry!"  Aggy hollers up on the bridge. "Dammit."

The spell wanes slowly, but surely. Uriah is the first to snap out of it. The crew members shake off the stupor with the mist of the siren's spell leaving their eyes. However, the fog has not left yet.

It thickens.

The old captain cradles his throbbing head in his hands. "Goddamn it," he curls to the rails. "What in the- boy!" Uriah screams at Aggy, stepping over a crouching James who is knocking his temples with his fists.  "What're you doin'!"

"Saving the ship!" Aggy hollers, holding the wheel a quarter to port. "Sirens been on deck, about to drag you all to the sea!"

The captain pales. "Sirens?"

"Aye! Sirens!"

Uriah squints and sees Eleanore dusting herself off. The young woman stands up and begins shaking the crew on deck. As the remaining haze of the spell tapers, Uriah slowly recalls the moments before he is suspended into a daze-

A lovely song...from a voice that will make angels weep and a heartless bastard repent from his ways.

His hands grasp the rails. "Did we scrape?" 

Aggy nods. "A few times-"

"Damn it all!" Uriah screams, making Eleanore look up from crouching before Dante. 

"What...what happened?" Dante asks, placing a palm over his forehead. She holds his shoulders, propping him to sit. His unusually pale face greets her, and those dark eyes...Eleanore squints. 

Even the fog is mirrored in his eyes.

"Siren attack," she answers. Dante nods absentmindedly, rubbing the sleep off with his knuckles. "But we've dealt with it. Hopefully it's only one-"

"Wait...siren?" The young sailor stiffens, having caught up with her words. "Siren?"

"Half-woman, half-fish with a deadly song? Yes. Siren." Eleanore takes a deep breath and scans the deck. The crewmen are coming to their senses, one by one. She looks up the quarterdeck, where Aggy is still at the helm and a disgruntled James is leaning on the rail beside her.